Michael Lee is back with more esports betting coverage of Six Charlotte Major 2022. Today, he looks at three games scheduled for Tuesday, May 17, including Team Liquid vs XSET, DarkZero Esports vs Heroic, and Astralis vs Wolves Esports.
Esports Betting Tips: Tuesday, May 17th
Team Liquid vs XSET
Six Charlotte Major 2022
Team Liquid come in as the first seed from LATAM, for which they deserve respect, but Liquid have yet to win a big title, so it's hard to be overly excited about them and their chances to win the Major. It's important to mention that Liquid didn't win the Brasileirão 2022 - Stage 1, but they won Copa Elite Six - Season 2022: Stage 1.
Last year, Liquid came very close to winning something big with various iterations of the roster, but they always fell short. Liquid were also many people's favourites at Six Invitational 2022, but they couldn't make it past MIBR and finished the tournament in fifth place.
For whatever reason, Team Liquid always seem to be around and in the mix to win, but they never quite make it there. Still, they're arguably one of the strongest teams at the Major, so don't sleep on them.
XSET are a North American team with three Brazilian players. That creates an interesting group dynamic, seeing how Group B features two LATAM squads and XSET, assembled mostly from LATAM players.
As the fourth seed from NA, XSET are viewed as a dark horse to make a splash in Charlotte, but I wouldn't underestimate them. They looked very solid in NAL Stage 1, where they could have easily claimed the second or third seed, but they stumbled at the end with two 7-8 defeats against the top two teams in the region, Astralis and Oxygen.
We all know how good XSET can be, but we can't know for sure whether they'll show it. Perhaps XSET need a bit more time to wake up and start showing up, but even though they are not quite there yet. It's hard not to bet on XSET to keep this match close.
Team Liquid should win more times than not, but XSET are talented enough to put up a fight and keep this match close. Take XSET with a +2.5 round handicap at 1.90!
DarkZero Esports vs Heroic
Six Charlotte Major 2022
Heroic absolutely dominated the European league. The only game they lost was against Natus Vincere, which was a puzzling defeat but more a fluke than anything else.
But that defeat came very early into the tournament, and Heroic have not dropped a single one since. That shows that Heroic is clearly the strongest European R6 team and in excellent form. But can they deliver and actually compete for the title?
That's hard to say since we don't have much information about this roster besides their phenomenal run through the European League. The core of this lineup (formerly Cowana Gaming) didn't achieve much in 2021, but again that doesn't mean much considering how much better the roster has been doing since the arrival of Aleksi "UUNO" Työppönen.
On the other side, we can attribute Heroic's success this season to the weakening of the European R6 scene. Some might argue that this isn't true, but considering BDS and Empire both struggled, I'm ready to believe that Europe is no longer as strong as it used to be.
But the question remains – can Heroic defeat DarkZero? They definitely can, and according to the betting odds, Heroic should be able to do it without any issues.
DarkZero had a few questionable games this season, but they usually delivered against NA's top teams. The problem with DarkZero is that we don't know how good they actually are, or better said, whether DarkZero will be consistent enough to make it out of the group.
They might, but it's highly unlikely for them to defeat Heroic.
Astralis vs Wolves Esports
Six Charlotte Major 2022
Astralis are the top team coming out of NA, but there are some caveats here. Remember that Astralis lost against Oxygen, and they needed overtime to defeat DarkZero and FURIA, so even though Astralis are technically NA's top team, they might not emerge as the top-performing NA team at the Major.
On the other side, we could see that as an indication that the top teams in NA are very close. Astralis did destroy most of the teams in NA, so while I'm not too excited about them, Astralis deserve some praise for their results. It's also important to note that Astralis don't have a lot of LAN experience.
Wolves Esports (formerly Vitality and Looking For Org), have a lot to prove, and even though they might be the least interesting team from Europe, Wolves just got picked up by an organisation and have actually looked very good this season.
This is a very winnable match for both teams. Technically, Astralis should win, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do, but Wolves are now motivated to show up, and if they can wake up, we could see an upset.
Wolves Esports to win
$2.75
